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Jingshen Expressway
The Jingshen Expressway (Hanyu Pinyin: Jingshen Gaosu Gonglu) is an expressway in China which links Beijing to Shenyang. It is an extremely long expressway, clocking in at 658 km in length. It leaves Beijing heading east and is numbered G025. The expressway crosses the jurisdictions of Beijing municipality, Hebei province, Tianjin municipality and Liaoning province. The Jingshen Expressway gets its name by the combination of two one-character Chinese abbreviations of both Beijing and Shenyang (Beijing -- Jing, Shenyang -- Shen). Route The Jingshen Expressway runs through the municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin, as well as the provinces of Hebei and Liaoning. Basic Route: Beijing (Sifang Bridge - Shiyuan Bridge - Huoxian County, Tongzhou District - Xiji) - Tianjin - Beidaihe - Jinzhou - Shenyang Status: The entire expressway is complete. Note: The expressway abruptly finishes in Beijing on the 4th Ring Road. From the looks of it, it may be possible that the expressway would be extended into the 3rd Ring Road. History The Jingshen Expressway's predecessor was the short-lived Jingqin Expressway (Beijing - Qinhuangdao), which did not start from central Beijing at all. The Jingshen Expressway was completed in time for the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. The expressway opened to the general motoring public on September 15, 1999, after four years of work on different sections. Further streamlining of the expressway came with the merger and removal of several toll stations in 2003. By September 2004, uneven road surfaces in the Beijing section became a thing of the past. (Previously, the stretch from Shiyuan - Xiji was in poor shape.) Road Conditions Speed Limit 120 km/h in Tianjin section; otherwise 110 km/h throughout. Tolls Tolls apply for the stretch beginning east of Bailu Toll Gate, east of the 5th Ring Road. Lanes 6 lanes (3 up, 3 down). Surface Conditions Variable; generally good. Traffic Generally good. Major Exits (Beijing) Shiyuan (Beijing), Huoxian Service Areas Plenty in number. Connections (Beijing) Ring Roads of Beijing: Connects with the E. 4th Ring Road at Sifang Bridge, the E. 5th Ring Road at Wufang Bridge, and the E. 6th Ring Road at Shiyuan Bridge. Toll Network When the expressway opened in September of 1999, people were complaining about one thing: namely, the sheer number of toll gates. In some cases, a toll booth appeared every 15 kilometres! It so turned out that the Jingshen expressway was constructed by different organisations, and as a result, each set up their own toll gate. This seemed to be OK at the start, but made traffic awfully slow, as traffic piled up in front of toll gates. The PRC's Ministry of Communications (Transport) stepped in after four years and declared that, effective September 1, 2003, the Baodi toll gate in Tianjin and the Yutian toll gate in Hebei would be demolished, in order to create a networked toll system. Additionally, two expressway toll gates near Shanhaiguan would be merged as one. (Plans also hint that the toll gate at Bailu, Beijing, just east of the Eastern 5th Ring Road, would be gone soon, as soon as Beijing "gets its act together" and joins the networked toll system. The toll gate at Xianghe in Hebei, however, would be kept.) Thus, for the section from Xianghe in western Hebei through to Shanhaiguan in eastern Hebei (and even through the Tianjin portion), this networked toll system applies -- one of the first of its kind. This does away with the previous system, where toll booths appeared every time the jurisdiction changed. For some odd reason, Beijing and Liaoning are still not part of the networked toll system. China plans to expand the networked toll system nationwide, starting with the Jingshen expressway as some kind of testing ground. For now, the change is being accepted positively. Average speed on the expressway has gone up, and a May 2004 law on traffic in general raised maximum speed limits on expressways nationwide from 110 km/h to 120 km/h. This makes traffic jams on this expressway either rare, or a thing of the past. Exits Beijing Section Listed are exits heading east as of Beijing (4th Ring Road) * ⇆''' (Interchange with 4th Ring Road) Dongsihuan (E. 4th Ring Road) * '''↗ Louzizhuang * ↗''' Gaobeidian * '''↗ (Interchange with 5th Ring Road) 5th Ring Road * ↗''' (→) Dougezhuang * '''¥ Bailu * ↗ 1: Tongmalu * S''' Tianjiafu * '''⇆ 2: (Interchange with 6th Ring Road) E. 6th Ring Road (Shunyi, Tongzhou, Daxing) * ↗ 3: Tianjin, Huoxian (Tongzhou) * ↗ 4: Langfu, Zhanggezhuang * P''' Langfu * '''↗ 5: Xiji, Hehezhan